Tannic Acid as a Green Cross-linker for Biomaterial Applications

Plant-derived tannic acid as a green material can play an important role in improving the mechanical and physical properties of biomaterials. Tannic acid can be used as an antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cross-linking agent in biomaterial products due to its unique functional groups. Its active phenolic groups can react with biomaterial functional groups to form bonds that improve performance. In this review, the mechanism of effectiveness of tannic acid as a natural crosslinker in improving the properties of biomaterials for various applications, such as tissue engineering, tissue adhesives, drug delivery, wound healing, and toxicity studies, has been investigated. In general, tannic acid can be a suitable alternative to synthetic crosslinkers in biomaterial applications.